"We're definitely making plans if they win Friday," said George Webb Vice President Ryan Stamm. "The wheels are in motion."

Only once has George Webb paid off on its tasty prediction — in April 1987 when the Brewers won 13 in a row, with the 12th victory coming in dramatic fashion before a sellout crowd at County Stadium on Easter Sunday. Down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Rob Deer hit a three-run homer to tie it and shortstop Dale Sveum's game-ending two-run blast into the right-field bleachers threw the crowd into a frenzy.

Three days later, all George Webb restaurants — which numbered 48 at the time — handed out one free burger per person between noon and 8 p.m. This being Milwaukee, where folks are known for their love of hamburgers and frugality, almost 170,000 were given away to people who lined up for hours in the rain.

Some George Webb customers told Milwaukee reporters in 1987 that they planned to freeze their free burger and keep the edible souvenir as long as they could. Stamm wondered if anyone still has a 31-year-old frozen free burger. He heard of one man who said he bronzed his burger.

"That's the only relic burger I know of. We should get in touch with that guy," Stamm said. "How do you bronze a hamburger?"

Unlike 1987 when the dozen wins came early in the season, this year's string of victories started when the Brewers had so much on the line, when they were a few games behind the first-place Cubs in the National League Central Division. Many fans hoped they would simply be one of the wild-card teams.

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Mary Beth Unglaub with her George Webb T-shirt from the big burger giveaway at the George Webb Restaurant at 7105 S. 76th St. in Franklin. She has worked at that restaurant since 1981. Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mary Beth Unglaub with her George Webb T-shirt from the big burger giveaway at the George Webb Restaurant at 7105 S. 76th St. in Franklin. She has worked at that restaurant since 1981. Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tom Watts (second from left), owner of the George Webb restaurant at 4492 N. Oakland Ave, Shorewood, pitched in to prepare some of the thousands of hamburgers the landmark outlets distributed free to Milwaukee Brewer fans. Journal Sentinel files

Sean Harper, 6, and his brother, Brett, 4, leave the restaurant with their historic hamburgers safely bagged at the George Webb restaurant at 4492 N. Oakland Ave. in Shorewood in 1987. Journal Sentinel files

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The Brewers haven't lost since dropping a 3-0 game to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 22. The next day, they stomped on the Pirates, 13-6. Then they swept the Cardinals and Tigers, beat the Cubs at Wrigley in a Game 163 and just finished stuffing the Rockies in three games.

Cooks and wait staff at 30 George Webb restaurants have been among the many Brewers fans watching the box scores.

"We have to be in the same mindset as we were in 1987. This year is even more exciting because it's the playoffs," said Stamm.

The promise "George Webb Predicts the Brewers Will Win 12 in a Row" was first made by the restaurant's namesake back when Milwaukee's team was the Braves and three nickels bought you a Webb's hamburger.

There was no promise attached to the prediction, but all assumed it would mean free burgers if Milwaukee's baseball franchise ever won 12 in a row. Year after year Webb printed the prediction on its napkins until finally it happened in 1987.

Stamm attended that Easter Sunday game with his father, who was then president of the company. The 11-year-old Stamm vividly remembers that game and the burger giveaway. He was at the Thursday and Friday NLDS games at Miller Park, and Stamm plans to go to this Friday's game, too.

But before first pitch on Friday, Stamm said the restaurant chain will announce plans to dispense free hamburgers next week if the Brewers win. He said all 30 George Webb restaurants will participate.

"With the games spread throughout the playoffs, it gives us time to plan. We're sitting on 11 wins and we have a few days of rest before we announce," said Stamm, who likes his hamburgers with pickles, ketchup and fried onions. "We're not actually resting, we're working behind the scenes."

Stamm doesn't know how Craig Counsell likes his hamburgers, but said if the Brewers manager comes in to a George Webb's, "however he wants his hamburger, we'll make it for him."